News

The Southern Indiana Civil War Roundtable has two great upcoming programs in May and June. Both meetings will begin at 7:00 p.m. at the Evansville Fraternal Order of Police (801 Court St, Evansville, IN 47708).

16 May 2019: Our May meeting will feature John Summerlot, Director of Veterans Support Services at Indiana University. His presentation is titled “Indiana University and the Civil War.” Cashon is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps and Army National Guard and researched and published on a number of topics related to the experiences of veterans and military students in higher education. He focuses in particular on the relationship between the military and higher education. He currently serves in the Indiana Guard Reserve as the executive officer of the Search and Rescue Training Team and an emergency management specialist and has been an instructor at IU Bloomington since 2004, teaching in both the School of Education and the School of Public Health.

20 June 2019: Our June meeting will feature Brad Butkovich, historian/author, presenting on the topic of “The Battle of Allatoona Pass: The First Battle of Hood’s Tennessee Campaign.” Brad is a member of the Northeast Georgia Civil War Round Table and has published various articles on Civil War battles. He is a resident of Lilburn, Georgia, and is the owner and creator of the Civil War Virtual Tours Website www.civilwartours.com.

Mark Laubacher will present Thursday, June 21st on a surgeon’s life aboard the USS Monitor. Mark Laubacher, RN, paramedic, is a Certified Specialist in Poison Information since 1992 at the Central Ohio Poison Center located at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, Ohio.

Fort Negley Civil War Seminar – The 153rd Anniversary of the Tennessee Campaign of 1864.

Please join the Fort Negley Civil War Seminar as it examines aspects of the Tennessee Campaign of 1864, when Confederate General John Bell Hood brought the Army of Tennessee into their namesake state to try and capture Nashville and perhaps move into Kentucky from there. Five scholars will offer programs that tie into this campaign from a lesser known aspect. The following historians will take part that day:

Dr. Thomas Flagel – Columbia State College – This Landscape Transformed: Union Fortification of the Western Theater of the Civil War

Dr. Bobby Lovett – author/historian – topic TBA but probably an aspect of the United States Colored Troops at Nashville

John Scales – Brig. Gen. U.S. Army (ret.)/historian/author – Hood’s Retreat From Nashville (Gen. Scales will have his brand new book analyzing the military career of Nathan Bedford Forrest for sale at this event!)

The event begins at 9 AM and concludes at 4 PM. The programs will be held at the Fort Negley Visitors Center, 1100 Fort Negley Blvd., Nashville, TN. This is not far off I-65 just south of downtown Nashville. Admission is free and seating is limited.

Economist Alex Tabarrok has a fascinating post at the Marginal Revolution about how the structure of Bombay is intimately tied to the American Civil War. Cotton prices skyrocketed–between 1860 and 1863-1864 prices rose by a factor of four on average and at times by a factor of 10. As cotton exports from the United States fell, exports from Persia, Egypt and especially India boomed.

January 19th’s meeting will feature Joshua Claybourn presenting on the 80th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment and its first commander, Colonel Thomas G. Allen. The regiment was composed of ten companies that drew primarily from eight southern Illinois counties. Over the course of the war the regiment traveled approximately 6,000 miles, and was in over 20 battles. This presentation will provide an interesting overview of how the regiment formed and background on its first commander. Col. Allen’s brief career leading the 80th Illinois provides a unique view of a commander who struggled to comprehend basic military command, frequently complaining and obsessing over political intrigue and perceived conspiracies against him.

Joshua Claybourn is an attorney and author. He is past chairman of the Southern Indiana Civil War Roundtable and serves in a number of leadership capacities with the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW). In 2014 he organized a local camp of the SUVCW, John W. Foster Camp No. 2, and is also the past National SUVCW Assistant Counselor and Signals Officer.

Joshua has served on the boards of several other historical groups and associations. He was previously on the board of directors for the Newburgh Museum, Vanderburgh County Historical Society, and is past president and trustee of the Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library. A graduate of the Indiana University McKinney School of Law and Kelley School of Business, he was named by Indiana Lawyer as one of the state’s “Up and Coming Lawyers.”

April 9, 2015 marked the 150th anniversary of Gen. Robert E. Lee’s surrender in the American Civil War, triggering a series of surrenders that signaled the end of the war. Click here to read a column by SICWRT chairman Joshua Claybourn commemorating this event.

Andrew Brookman, a former member of the Southern Indiana Civil War Roundtable, has passed away. He was an active member in our group for several years and attended meetings and events regularly. He enjoyed everything related to the Civil War. Click here to view his obituary. Andrew’s family is asking friends and family to consider making donations to causes that were important to Andrew’s life, including the Civil War Trust. There will be a gathering and visitation from 3 until 5 p.m. on Monday, February 9, 2015 at the Colvin Funeral Home in Princeton, Indiana.